Jack Goes Boating

Director: Phillip Seymour Hoffman
Year: 2014

Based on the half-million dollar box office gross, I’m guessing most people probably haven’t even heard of this movie. I saw the DVD case at my local library with Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s name on it and that was enough for me to give it a look. I didn’t know anything about it and really didn’t want to before viewing it. Hoffman carries that kind of clout to me as an actor – I just want to see what he does. I was not disappointed.

Jack (Hoffman, who also made his Directorial debut with this film) is a quiet man, seemingly hurt just by being alive. Hoffman, the actor, flourishes in painful humanity. His two friends are a married couple, Clyde (John Ortiz) and Lucy (Daphne Rubin-Vega). They take care of him emotionally. Jack and Clyde drive for Jack’s uncle’s limousine company, but Jack offers subtle hints, like his seemingly incongruous affinity for reggae and application for a new job, that he is trying to better himself and be happy. Clyde plays the role of big brother to Jack, teaching him to swim, cook, and maybe even fall in love.

Lucy works at a funeral home (which plays, metaphorically) with Connie (Amy Ryan). Connie is Jack’s female counterpart in shyness. Clyde and Lucy decide to set Connie and Jack up. It works well for a time until you know it won’t…and then it doesn’t. That’s neither a spoiler nor knock on the story – in fact, it’s a compliment that writer Robert Glaudini (who wrote the original play version and the screenplay) understood the parameters of what he’d written and that Hoffman, as Director, held the actors and us within them. This is a performance piece all the way and the entire cast is excellent.

It’s a small story, sad, strangely funny and sweet all at once. New York City is on display and looks very inviting throughout, rough edges and all. All in all, Jack Goes Boating is a very well made film for people who enjoy watching relationships and understand the subtle and difficult things couples put up with in order to get and stay together. The worst part about it was the hole I felt at the end remembering, once again, that Hoffman is dead far too soon.

Resonance Rating: 4.0 out of 5